Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

In December 2014, the Minister with responsibility for housing and planning announced the implementation plan of the State's response to homelessness. The plan sets out a range of short-term and medium-term approaches. It will deliver 2,700 units for homeless people by the end of 2016. I will remind the Deputy of some of the actions that were taken. An increase of 271 beds in the Dublin region has brought the total number of beds available for adults across the Dublin region to 1,762 as of 15 May. Merchants Quay Ireland is providing a State-funded night café, providing a key contact point for people who do not or cannot access emergency accommodation. It operates seven nights per week from 11 p.m. until 7.30 a.m. I found the service there, and the people who work in it and use it, to be first class. The Housing First service, which has responsibility for engaging with and responding to the accommodation and support needs of people sleeping rough in Dublin, has extended its on-street service until 3 a.m. During 2014, 2,333 vacant units across the country were brought back into productive use and the 2015 target is 1,000. The Tenancy Protection Service on behalf of the local authorities in Dublin and Cork has protected 390 tenancies since the inception of the service in June 2014 and arrangements are under way to establish a single assessment centre for families who are currently accommodated in hotels. There is ongoing liaising with South Dublin County Council regarding NAMA properties.

NAMA has approved €1.6 billion across a range of construction projects and €1 billion has been drawn down to fund commercial and residential construction projects, including the completion of existing projects and the development of new projects. NAMA established a dedicated residential delivery team comprising staff with specialist finance, development and planning expertise to support the agency's residential development strategy. NAMA completed detailed analysis of its residential sites within the greater Dublin area and across the other urban centres in which NAMA security is predominantly located. NAMA’s residential delivery team is project managing viable projects through appraisal, design and planning stages with a view to bringing them to “shovel-ready” state. NAMA has committed to funding the delivery of 4,500 new homes in the Dublin area by the end of 2016, 1,362 of which were delivered in 2014 as against a target of 1,000, representing more than 40% of Dublin’s total new housing supply in 2014. NAMA’s objective is to deliver another 1,500 units in 2015 with the remainder to be delivered during 2016.

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